Rutgers update

The 6-foot-8 forward is leaving Boston University after averaged 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a freshman and earning the America East Conference’s Rookie of the Year honors. He also shot .365 from 3-point range. Read more about his decision to transfer here: One and done for O’Brien

A native of Weymouth, Mass., O’Brien helped Boston College High School win a state title as a junior and was named Catholic Conference MVP as a senior. Word is he will visit Providence shortly and possibly Rutgers after that.

How about a point guard? Rutgers is still waiting on highly regarded JUCO James Beatty.

Scheduling Matters

A good non-conference schedule is shaping up like this:

– Another trip to North Carolina. The Tar Heels will cap the series with a visit to Rutgers in 2010, game site not finalized.

– A spot in the Legends Classic at The Rock during Thanksgiving Week. The other three teams will be Michigan State, Florida and UMass. We’re hearing Rutgers may play UMass in the semis, but it hasn’t been finalized. We’ve been told that Seton Hall declined a spot in this tourney.

– Five home games against Jersey squads: Rider, St. Peter’s, Princeton, Monmouth (a new series) and NJIT. Delaware owes Rutgers a visit but will return the favor in 2010.

Overseas Trip

The eight returning scholarship players and two walk-ons will travel abroad May 23-31. They will spend two days touring Spain, attending a bullfight in Madrid, and then visit the Canary Islands, where they will play four games in four days against international club teams.

More Katz: Next year, it looks like players will have one week to make up their minds about entering the NBA Draft: Schools are being strung out

Here is a sign of the times: DePaul administrators have cleaned out Jerry Wainwright’s coaching staff but not the head man himself, most likely because they buyout is too steep (his contract runs through 2012). It’s never good when the AD is leading the search for assistant coaches, by the way.

About Jerry Carino

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.

Now that Gonzo has a rock-solid roster in place, his biggest concern should be putting together an out-of-conference schedule that matches this team’s talent. A Legends Classic field with Michigan State and Florida — at the Rock, no less — would have fit perfectly with that mission. It would have been fun for Pirate fans as well.

I am curious to see what tournament the Hall enters in lieu of this, and what other high-majors and quality mid-majors they schedule. And they’d better hurry — the high-major slates are filling up quickly. The past couple of years they have been one of the last major schools to finish scheduling; that hurts their ability to line up some prime opponents (see: Cal Baptist).

Right now, with the talent in place, the biggest mistake Gonzo can make is scheduling down. We’ll see what happens, but all we know so far is that this was one chance to schedule up, and SHU passed on it.

JC, what is the reason the Pirates turned down the invitation? It makes no sense. They had an opportunity to play in a good tournament without having to spend money and travel! They would have also had the home crowd advantage.

To make matters worse, they make life easy for their rival who get to waltz into the Rock to play games, make money and to get lots of free NY metro area publicity.

Dave, I believe that game is up in the air at the moment. If they don’t get it in next year it will be played in 2010.

Dribbler, the Hall soured on Gary Flowers. I believe there was a package deal requested and SHU said no thanks.

NJ07079,
The Pirates were looking into to playing in another tournament the following week and wanted to schedule a couple of cupcakes for Thanksgiving week to “prepare.” I’ll reserve final judgment until I see the details on that tournament, but my gut tells me they made a mistake passing up the Legends.

Who the heck would turn down a tournament happening on your own home court! Did they even stop to think that Pirates’ fans would have loved to attend or that it would have been a great opportunity to show off in front of recruits and their families. I’m sure this tournament is going to sell and also get TV exposure.

I smell something fishy. But I’m note sure if the smell is coming from the Rock or from South Orange. Somebody did not want to “play ball.” Somebody was trying to pull some kind of squeeze play. There is no logic to this so somebody screwed this up.

About this Blog

Since its launch in 2006, Hoops Haven has become a staple of the New Jersey basketball community. This is the place to find breaking news, analysis and links about college and high school basketball in the Garden State.

About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.